Independence
by LizaLasombra
Summary: Gretchen is the wealth socialite from Vice City who depends on her parents money. It isn't until one day Gretchen gets herself into some trouble and is cut off. Not only that, but she's sent to live with her old childhood friend and her roommate in a city she wants no part of. But for poor ole Gretchen, trouble seems to have a thing for her. (REWRITTEN STORY)
1. Peace In Los Santos

So here we have the reason I haven't been uploading any chapters in a while, sorry to anyone who followed the story. I entered a block because I didn't like how the story started and to me I felt it was ALL over the place so I decided to revise the story. Hence the title. I changed Gretchen's personal storyline up a bit I added a few characters that will be introduced as the story goes on. As a way to make it up to people who were waiting I've uploaded 10 chapters and they're long so….please accept this peace offering.

I hope you don't mind the changes and I'll have the revised part in the title for a while as a heads up to anyone who has the story on their alerts so that they won't get confused.

**Disclaimers**: I do not own GTA or any of its characters, I only own my OCs.

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><p><strong>Chapter 1<strong>: Peace in Los Santos

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><p>The auto-sliding doors opened and a black-haired woman stepped out of the airport in a blue leather jacket, a white "Go Fuck Your Selfie" tee, a pair of white shorts and some black ankle boots, her hair was medium-length straight hair was pulled back with the help of a thick blue headband.<p>

The Blackette stretched and placed her hands on her hips before adjusting her black sunglasses on her face.

She heard the doors opening again, the woman turned to see the three men she asked for help carrying her bags. When she asked them they were more than happy to help her, especially since she put her "damsel in distress" act on.

"So do you have someone picking you up or…" One of them asked.

She flashed them a genuine smile. "My friend is coming to get me. Thanks for the help boys." She said with a wink.

The men smiled at her before walking off.

Once they were out of earshot, the woman rolled her eyes and pulled out a pack of gum as she sat down on one of her suitcases.

"Now where IS this girl?! Bad enough I'm here, now she's going to make me suffer like this?" She muttered to herself. "Stupid Los Santos, stupid everything." She went on. "Ridículo."

After an hour of waiting, a yellow Karin BeeJay XL pulled up in front of her. Out of the driver's side came out a buxom brunette in a black sweatshirt and basic blue jeans with a smile on her face. The woman came over to the blackette.

"GRETCHEN! IT'S SO NICE TO SEE YOU!" She exclaimed.

Gretchen stood up from the suitcase and crossed her arms. "I've been waiting here for an hour, Katrina, and it's only _nice _to me?"

The comment stopped Katrina in her tracks, who flashed a half-hearted smile before going in hugging the blackette. "It's so GOOD to see you."

Gretchen hugged Katrina back and a genuine smile formed on her face. "It's good to see you too., you've grown." Gretchen stated, looking the brunette's new figure. "A lot."

Katrina smirked and flipped her long wavy hair. Her skin's was an olive complexion while Gretchen's skin tone was darker. With her figure, she was also thicker than Gretchen. The blackette had some meat of her own….in her legs, pear shaped is the better term to describe Gretchen's body.

"This is going to be the best couple of months ever." Katrina squealed.

"I dunno know about that." Gretchen replied.

"Oh, come on. It isn't going to be THAT bad. Be open to a new experience."

"Yes, be open to the new experience of being cut off financially by your parents and shipped off to an entirely different state which I have little to NO info on. Experience."

The passenger side door of Katrina's SUV opened and out stepped a thin redhead wearing a pink t-shirt and faded jean shorts with some canvas sneaks. Her red hair was styled in a mohawk ponytail and she had a red and floral tattoo on her right arm.

The redhead casually walked over to the two girls with a smile on her face.

"So this is the infamous Gretchen I've heard so much about." She said.

Gretchen raised an eyebrow. "That would be me. You are?"

"Patti St. Patrick, Katrina's roommate AND best friend."

"Good for you."

The three stood there for a few seconds and Katrina could feel slight tension in the air. She was hoping that they would get along at first glance since she felt that their personalities were similar. They were both out there with their high maintenance personalities. Her mother, Flora, warned her though they were most likely going to clash, especially with them both being friends with Katrina.

Flora was an old friend of Gretchen's father and an old frenemy of Gretchen's mother since the two women DID share similar traits. It was the connection of their parents that bought Gretchen and Katrina together when they were kids. Their friendship was only halted when Katrina and her family moved from Vice City to Los Santos.

"Well, Gretchen we should probably get your bags in the car. Help me out, Patti?"

"Whatever." Patti shrugged. The redhead grabbed a couple of the bags as did Gretchen and Katrina. Once they loaded all of the bags up in the SUV, all three women got into the car.

**INDEPENDENCE**

During the car ride, Katrina had given Gretchen a small tour of some of the more popular places in Los Santos. Though Gretchen showed no interest in the tour considering she was flashing quick scowls at Patti, who was doing the same, no matter how hard Katrina tried to ease the tension.

"So Gretchey," Patti started.

"You don't know me well enough to call me something like that.:" Gretchen said.

"'Trina here says that you're pretty loaded..well...WERE pretty loaded. What'd you do to for a living?" The redhead questioned.

It didn't take rocket science to see what Patti was trying to do. Gretchen's parents did to anybody she brought home.

"I'm a socialite." The blackette replied.

"So...you do nothing then? Good to know." Was Patti's reply which caused Gretchen to scrunch her lips in frustration.

"Well being a socialite IS very important. We're the people who make an event...an event. Without us, parties would be so..._bleh_ and I'm sure people like famous realtors, fashion designers and artists wouldn't want THAT kind of review in the papers."

Patti rolled her eyes and scowled.

"Speaking of papers….Patti St. Patrick, the name sounds familiar."

"It should, I AM an award winning actress." Patti replied, a smirk on her face.

"I've seen you on a magazine cover one of the magazines that my friend has in his room. It was a porno mag-"

Katrina looked in the rearview mirror to Gretchen, who was leaned forward and was inched closer to the passenger seat, where Patti was seated.

"Your friend still reads porno magazines?" Katrina asked. "It's 2013, though."

The blackette nodded. "Well he likes to think of himself as old fashioned."

Gretchen then turned her attention back to the redhead."That redhead was you, right? Won an award for worst pornstar right?" Gretchen asked.

"BEST pornstar! I wouldn't be featured in a magazine for winning the title of _worst_, genius."

"You never know, maybe the person who wrote the article might've had some grudge against you. Maybe the article was one of the weird tricks where you could only see the words in some blacklight. Maybe they were shit talkin' about you in reality."

"Why would someone go through so much trouble for that? The only reason people buy those magazines is to jack off. No one's looking for some deeper meaning."

"There's ALWAYS someone, y'know."

"I've won the award for best porn actress 4 years running."

"Really? Didn't that movie last year called the Desperate Trophy Wives, get BAD reviews."

"It's wasn't my fault that the movie blowed and besides, not ALL my fans hated it."

This time, Katrina was the one that spoke. "You mean the creepy one who is sending you fan mail every week?" The brunette asked.

"I like to think of him as dedicated." The redhead commented.

"He's creepy. Like a couple of weeks back he kept asking for your underwear. He kept asking for it and then you did something stupid by ACTUALLY sending him a couple of pairs."

"I'm no expert in having stalkers but wouldn't you doing that be enabling them to continue pursuing you?"

"I'm not some dumbass, I sent him my underwear to get him to stop sending me the same request over and over."

Katrina smirked. "And did it work?"

"...Shut up." Was Patti's quick response.

The redhead was was pouting and leaned against the window.

"He still sends fanmail wanting more. He thinks you actually like him." Katrina stated. Gretchen laughed in the back seat while Patti faced away from the two. "I'm surprised that pervert hasn't shown up on our doorstep with flowers and a tux expecting you to marry him."

"Not like I would."

"Maybe you'd have no choice. Pervert stalker might get mad and start wearing your face." Gretchen said eerily.

"Shut up!" Patti shouted. "That would never happen."

The ride was filled with Gretchen teasing Patti about the whole situation while Katrina kept her focus on the road.

**[Gretchen's POV]**

After what felt like a long, uncomfortable, redhead filled car ride, we had finally arrived at the house. The girls lived out in Vinewood Hills on 3659 Whispymound Drive. It was a mansion-well sort of mansion. Katrina pulled her SUV up into the driveway, next to a pink sports car. Guess that Patti's car.

Patti got out of the car and wasted no time in heading to the front door, leaving Trina and I by the car. I was the second to step out of the car and Trina came right after.

"So how big is this place?" I asked Trina.

Trina opened the trunk and shrugged. "Backyard pool, nice vice of Los Santos, 4 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, nice size kitchen, big living room, 2 stories, it's a pretty big. All of this without looking like a castle.." She says smirking at me.

It was a clear shot at how my house looked. "Well princesses live in castles."

"This is a castle."

"No, this is where a Duke or a Duchess lives. It's never as grand as where the higher royalty lives."

Katrina chuckled at my statement. "Look it'll probably be a while before you meet someone who lives in a house like that so can you restrain from saying that type of stuff to EVERYONE?"

"I'm not a douchebag, I'm just bitchy."

"Just be thankful you're not out in the boonies. Now can you help me with the bags?"

"Why?" I questioned.

"Uh they are YOUR bags and I'm not a damn bellboy."

"Whatever."

I complied and grabbed a couple of the bags as did Trina, we then both headed towards the front door. The second we entered pass the brick fence entrance, I saw a path leading to the backyard and a path leading to the front door. There was a hedge like entranceway in front of that path too, I was never a fan of these things but my dad had a soft spot for them. Never knew why, though.

"Ooh, good Patti left the door unlocked." Katrina mentioned, pushing it open.

"Why wouldn't she leave unlocked?" I asked.

"Ehh.." She never gave me a clear answer, she just walked into the house.

I'll be honest, the place didn't look bad. I mean it didn't hold a candle compared to MY mansion but it shined bright on its own. I'll give the place its props.

Trina and I placed the bags by the door and I followed her into the living room where she plopped down onto the 3 seater red couch. She curled up so I could sit down next to her. She then grabbed the remote off of the glass coffee table that sat in front of the couch and changed the channel.

"So what's next on the Los Santos agenda?" I asked her.

She let out a 'hmm' before sitting upright and looking at me. "Well I say for now we can sit here and watch TV, probably catch up and then I can show you your room and then we can move onto job hunting, I-"

"Woah, woah, woah, woah! Job hunting? Uh uh, no way."

"Oh come on, Gretch. Living in places like this cost money. Rent money. With you helping out, it'll be no problem."

"Can't I just have my parents right you guys a check?"

"THAT is the most sensible thing I've heard come out of your mouth since I met you." I heard.

I turned and saw Patti standing by the bottom of the stairs in a red bikini with a robe in her hands and a pair of red rimmed sunglasses on the top of her head. The redhead and I exchanged condescending glares.

"Sorry but no." Katrina started. "You are 100% cut off from your family's wealth. With nothing but whatever cash they gave you. Which is…?"

"About two grand."

"Yep, with nothing but two grand to your name right now."

"Ugh!"

"If you guys need me, I'll be in the pool." Patti stated.

"Try not to get any semen in the pool before I take a dip." I told her.

"What-the-fuck-ever!" She shot back.

The both of us turned Katrina when we he heard the brunette groaned.

"What?" Both of us said at the same time.

"I really wish you and Patti would get along." She said to me.

"She started it." The both of us answered. We then glared at each other.

"You both are acting like this is high school. You're both in your 20s, you both should start acting like it."

"Maybe if she wasn't being all _oh she's MY friend now_, then we could get along." I said.

"Oh please, you're acting like some dog trying to reclaim its territory. If you REALLY saw Katrina as your friend, you would've been keeping in touch with her throughout the years. Now we're supposed to shelter you because you can't pour your own fuckin' kool-aid?"

I turned back to the redhead and placed my hands on my hips. "I don't drink kool-aid. Kool-aid is for poor people and cult leaders."

"You're BOTH my friends. WHY do you two feel like I should choose a side?"

"I DON'T think you should choose a side, Trina. It's just...are you really happy to see Gretchen?"

"Can you not talk about me like I'm not right here?" I said.

"Of course I'm happy to see her. Us not talking for years just gives us more to talk about now. Gives you two a lot to talk about. Seriously!"

Patti and I both looked at each other and then looked back at Trina.

"Can you at least start at a truce? No bitchy comebacks, no death glares, no backhanded compliments. Blank slate. Can you do that?" Trina asked the both of us.

The both of us were silent for a moment before Patti spoke up. "Yeah, fine….for you. Truce Gretchen?"

I shrugged and nodded in agreement. "Truce."

"Thank you! Now that this problem is out of the way, can we get back on topic with the job hunt?"

"Oh you mean the hunt I'm NOT going on?"

"Gretchen! Look Patti and I both have jobs what are you gonna do when we're out? Sit in here all day?"

"I wouldn't mind."

"Gretchen, I know you. Whether you're the tomboy from the back then or the spoiled brat from now. You HATE being cooped up."

"I might've changed."

"Your LifeInvader says different."

I rolled my eyes while Patti placed her sunglasses over hers. "I'm off to the pool. Join me whenever."

"What the hell would expect me to do anyways?" I asked the brunette.

"Well I tried to take in anything you could do into consideration. Even got some tips from your mom and I manage to narrow the choices. In truth, we really don't have to the hunting part."

One of my eyebrows had risen and Trina left to go into the kitchen. She came back into the living room with a notepad and a pen in her hands.

"Ok," She started, sitting beside me. "There's a couple of places that are hiring and that would hire you."

"Oh god, what is it?"

"Well the first one is a position at Burger Shot-"

"Ok one: I eat burgers, I don't flip'em and two: haven't you heard? Burger Shot makes their burgers out of children."

"Too many conspiracy websites for you."

"No websites, my friend told me."

"Your friend?"

"Yes, his uncle is one of those big conspiracy guys."

"Right….whatever. Next is a open spot at a daycare-"

"No!"

"No kids, guess the ice scream shop is off the list too."

"Wait why-"

"ALOTTA kids go there."

"Ew."

"Well there's an opening at the library."

I thought on it, it wouldn't be a bad job to have but I'm not really one for being too quiet. "Nah, something else."

"Last one is a position at this agency-"

"Modeling agency?"

"No, it's an agency for domestic services."

"What's that?"

"Like maids, butlers, nannies, so on and so on. Remember when Maggie would clean up and then we'd mess it up like two seconds after and then your parents would make us clean up the room as punishment? I figured that would work."

"Ugh! Cleaning up someone else's shit?"

"You'd be getting paid for it."

"But that's-"

"Look it's something you can do without a problem."

"But-"

"But nothing. I'm not taking no for an answer or any excuses. Maggie was practically are warden when we had to clean, so this job will be a piece of cake. It's not luxury job but you gotta start small before you make it big. It's what my dad told me and now it's what I'm telling you."

"Do I really have to?"

"YES!"

"No need to yell, it was just a question."

"No it was actually your attempt to puppy dog your way out of it. You do it all the time to get things swung your way."

"I thought I could trust telling you that?"

"Magicians never reveal their secrets." She said to me with a smirk.

"tch, whatever."

"Who knows, maybe you'll even have some affair with a married man. Right out of an erotica book."

"Get real, I'm no homewrecker." I told her. "Not stepping back into _that_ territory again." I muttered.

"What was that?"

"Nothing."

We sat there on the couch watching TV for a few minutes before my cell phone started ringing. I looked down on the phone to check to see who was calling.

"Hey, where's my room?" I asked Trina.

"Oh just head upstairs, I put a sticky note on the room that's yours. Who's calling?"

"My friend Pamela. I'll be right back."

**INDEPENDENCE**

Bahamas West Mamas was one of the many clubs in Los Santos that was always buzzing. Tonight was no different, especially since there was a high roller in the vicinity. A man named Frederick Cotter, a real estate agent who can sell you a house and a reason for your wife to sleep with him. It really is a mystery to how he's still in business with his rep of sleeping with married women. No one knows why taken women are his obsession, maybe it's because he adores the challenge. Which meant he saw the women he slept with as conquests.

The blonde slick back haired Frederick sat in the VIP section, seated with women who looked to be well in their twenties, all glammed up.

"HEY LADY! SOME BEERS OVER HERE!" Frederick shouted to the redheaded waitress.

The redhead waitress turned her attention to the man, him getting a decent look at her features. Her red hair was put into a messy bun, she had dark brown skin and plump lips coated in dark red lipstick. She was wearing the regular uniform that the waitresses wore which was a white tube top and blue frilly skirt to match the theme of the club. She also had on white wedge sandals and she also was wearing a diamond necklace with a "V" in the center.

Frederick nodded as he took in her appearance and waved her over again. The waitress smiled and came over to the VIP section. The woman bent slightly and picked up some of the empty glasses. Frederick was able to get a good look at the wedding ring on the woman's hand. That little detail alone had the blonde man screaming gleefully internally.

He leaned forward and simply stared at the beauty in front of him.

'She's young too. Young and a fool in love I bet.' He thought.

The waitress had finally replaced the empty glasses with some _Pisswasser_ beer bottles.

"Here you go sir." The redhead said. :"Let me know if you need anything else." she added.

Soon the party in Bahama West Mamas started toning down. People were leaving the place and the population of the club only got smaller and smaller with each passing hour. The women who surrounded Frederick had finally left the club and the blonde took it as his chance to make nice with the redheaded waitress, who was sitting by the bar, possibly waiting for her shift to end.

He casually walked over to her and sat beside her, looking down at her wedding ring again. He talked to the woman for awhile, she told him how married life isn't how she thought it would be and that was his cue to go for it, with his assumptions about her being a young fool in love bring right.

He managed to convince her to come with him to the bathroom, telling her some bullcrap like cheating can make a relationship work. She agreed to do so. He smiled, thinking he had another one reeled in.

Again…._thinking_.

The second they were in the men's bathroom, Frederick was on her in no time. The redhead did her best to move this to one of the stalls, with him going in first. Once the woman locked the stall her mouth latched onto his. Their tongues fighting for dominance.

Frederick went and proceeded to attempt to pull down her tube top shirt. It was then he felt something going down his throat. Something that stung a bit going on the way down.

"Woah, woah, woah there tiger." Frederick said, calmly pushing the woman back. She looked on with confusion.

"Is something wrong?" The woman asked.

The male chuckled nervously. "I think...I think you probably didn't swallow your liquor baby….I think some of that *cough* went...hang on." He started breaths were becoming shorter and shorter.

The woman looked on with worry but then that worry turned into glee. Not psychopath killer smile glee but a more _I'm content with how this went_ glee. She then started thinking.

"I think you're not supposed to talk when The Heartbreaker is injected into your body. Dunno something about talking wasting oxygen, I forget what Perry says about it. I DO remember him saying the more you use, the faster it'll kill the victim." The woman explained. "I could be wrong about the whole thing though. I don't remember."

Frederick stared at the woman with a shocked expression as he clutched his chest. SHE did this to him.

The woman then slowly took off the wedding ring and waved it slightly before putting it into her bra. "Fake ring. You can usually get them at a toy store for $3. I needed it to look legit so I borrowed my grandmother's old ring." She explained. "Now, since you don't have much time left I'll give you the shortened version." She began cleaning up him of any kiss marks she may have left on him. "Your ways of sleeping with married women have pissed people off. A LOT of people off. Soooo, I doing married couples everywhere a favor." She smiled.

'How could she smile when she's committing murder?' The blonde thought to himself.

"Wow! You're doing a good job of not talking usually I get the _how could you_ or my favorite: _you fucking bitch, I'll kill you_. Guess your trying to alive as long as possible, huh? I'll give you an A+ for effort though. Though I suspect if I leave now, you'll just crawl out of the bathroom, and we don't need you making a scene. Plus I do have to make it so you look like you died taking a shit."

Frederick's vision started fading in and out. It was clear to the woman that he was trying with all might to stay alive. For what? She didn't know.

"You have no one to blame but yourself, y'know. Yeah it takes two to tango with cheating but you DID initially go for women you knew were married. You were living on borrowed time anyway." She went on. "I get it, that's like your fetish and shit but your fetish was pissing off A LOT of people."

Frederick's breathing slowed down more and more. Finally his eyes slowly closed. He had finally given in to Lady Death. The woman yawned and stretched.

"Finally, now time for the hard part you heavy looking fuck." She commented.

**INDEPENDENCE**

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><p>First chapter of the revised version and someone has already had a purposely induced heart attack. ^_^<p>

So how are you guys enjoying this so far? Well maybe I shouldn't say that right now since this is only the first chapter. As you can see changes as to where Katrina and Patti live plus Katrina and Gretchen know each other in this version but Patti and Gretchen still don't like each other at first. Plus I changed Gretchen's last name but that won't come into play until like chapter 2. Hope you enjoy.

See you guys in chapter 2.


	2. Maid in Los Santos

CHAPTA 2! Isn't it….cool…..I thought that would rhyme in some way but I don't see it happening. Anyways here you go.

**Disclaimer**: I do not own GTA or any of it's characters. I only own my OCs

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><p><strong>Chapter 2<strong>: Maid in Los Santos

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><p>Katrina stood below the steps with her smartphone in her hand with the camera on as she waited to Gretchen to come down the stairs.<p>

"GRETCHEN LUCIA SOUSA! IF YOU MAKE ME LATE FOR WORK, I'LL KILL YOU!" The brunette shouted.

"I'M NOT COMING DOWN IN THIS TRASH!" Gretchen shouted back.

"YOU'LL LOOK FINE!"

"SAYS THE WOMAN _NOT_ WEARING THIS!"

"JUST GET DOWNSTAIRS!"

Katrina heard the sound of a door opening before slamming shut. Soon after, at the top of the stairs stood Gretchen in her new work uniform.

It was a basic maid uniform with a grey and white color scheme. The blackette was also wearing thigh high black stockings and a pair of cute black flats with white bows on the front. It was a pair that Katrina let her wear.

Gretchen reluctantly descended the steps and immediately was taken off guard by a flash of light, she scowled down at the brunette.

"If you put that picture on the internet, I will ruin you." Gretchen threatened.

"You wouldn't hurt your friend would you?"

"Everyone's fair game when my reputation is at stake." The blackette answered coldly.

"But you look so cawuuttee!"

"And you'll look so dead if I find that picture on LifeInvader."

"We'll see…." Katrina happily muttered.

**INDEPENDENCE**

The drive wasn't from Vinewood hills to Rockford Hills wasn't all that long. Soon, Katrina's SUV finally pulled up to the mansion Gretchen was assigned to. There was already someone working for this house but she had put in a notice about going on vacation for her anniversary. So Gretchen was taking the temp role now until further notice.

Katrina looked on at the house in slight awe while Gretchen scrunched her face up at the sight of house.

"Eh...my house is 100x times better." Gretchen commented.

"Can you try NOT to say that to whoever lives here?"

Gretchen chuckled. "No promises."

"Seriously Gretchen, no bitch mode, alright?"

"When have I ever been a bitch, 'Trina?"

The look Katrina gave Gretchen clearly suggested that there were many times Gretchen has been bitchy. The 24 year old rolled her eyes and stepped out of the car, she then proceeded to walk to the front door. Katrina drove and headed off to work.

There was only one car in the driveway. Gretchen was kinda hoping that no one was home. Like maybe a family outing or something. Easy work day for her, right? Anyways, the blackette looked at the front door for a few seconds before raising her hand to knock on the door.

Gretchen knocked and waited for the door to open. Once it did open she was greeted to the sight of a black haired man who appeared to be in his late 30s. He was holding onto a glass of whiskey and had a pair of sunglasses on the top of his head.

"Is this the De Santa residence?" She asked.

He looked the blackette up and down before shaking his head. "Look whatever you're sellin', I ain't buying."

"I'm selling cleaning services." She stated with a smirk.

"I already have a maid...Maria."

"Firstly, her name is Eva and secondly, I'm her temporary replacement."

"Replacement?"

"She's going on a vacation. Something about an anniversary." Gretchen responded. "Anyways,Can I come in now? It's hot out here."

The middle aged man sighed before moving to the side. "Alright, come on."

Gretchen flashed a satisfied smile and walked into the house. She stopped in the hall to get a good look around the place.

"Well...I'll leave you to it." The black haired man said before walking off to the back.

Gretchen shrugged and continued to look around, wondering where exactly she should start.

"Alright, if I was Maggie, where would I begin?" She asked herself. "I guess upstairs?"

The blackette ascended the stairs and went for the first room she saw.

'Oh this is CLEARLY a girl's room.' Gretchen thought to herself. 'Or maybe a guy who's really into girly things?"

The room wasn't all that messy, just a few clothes scattered around. The make-up table was a bit messy. The bed was in disarray and that was really all there was.

"Well this shouldn't be too bad." Gretchen said to herself.

She started with the clothes scattered around the room. She simply put them back into the closet. That was one problem dealt with. Next item on her agenda was the bed. She's fixed her own bed a million times, Gretchen never needed Maggie for that and Gretchen's bed was bigger than whoever's bed this was.

It was going smoothly until Gretchen picked something…gross up.

"Oh…my...god…" Was the only words she could muster up before dropping the item, having it land on the floor. "Oh my god, oh...my...god. OHMYGODOHYGODOHMYGOD, please tell me I didn't just pick up...ugh I DID..."

The blackette ran out of the room to find a bathroom to cleanse her hands of the used condom she picked up.

"Oh god, this is going to be worse than I imagined." She said to herself.

**INDEPENDENCE**

**(Gretchen's POV)**

Finished! I finally finished! After picking up that used condom and other….dirty unmentionables. I never knew this but you can gather a lot about someone from cleaning up their shit. From the sexually active to the shut in gamer.

The only room that was truly messy was the gamer's room. The downstairs area wasn't all that messy. Maybe a view DVDs scattered and a couple of VHSs, like who has THOSE anymore. Those things are fuckin' ancient.

Anyways, since I was all done for the day, I was now basically standing in the kitchen looking through the cabinets. I figured a hard day's work deserved a reward. I found a wine glass in the living room and you know, where there's wine glasses there's wine and I intend to find it.

"There you are!" I said.

There was a nice sized glass sitting with a bunch of other ones. I grabbed one of them and went to get the wine.

Wine was really my go to drink. You can thank my mom for that love.

"So now I'm paying people to clean my house and drink my wife's wine?" I heard someone ask

I turned to see the owner of the house standing by the dining table. I didn't even hear him come in.

I smirked. "Yeah well, it's a new feature."

"Heh, sure it is. Don't worry, my wife won't notice." He told me.

I took a sip of the wine. "Good, because I never planned on apologizing."

"Y'know normal maids don't do this." He commented.

"Well then I guess I'm not normal," I replied. "Normal maids aren't heiresses." I then muttered, hoping he wouldn't hear that part.

"Heiress?"

Holy shit he heard that. Fuck it, what's the worst that could happen from saying that?

"Yep, oh how the mighty have fallen." I stated.

"What? Dad ran into debt or something?"

"No more like my parents decided I didn't know how to take care of myself."

"Ah, material girl thrown into the workforce. Perfect plot for an 80s romantic comedy."

I had slightly tilted my head. "Does it really count when you're still living with people who are more than well off?"

"Heh….guess not. I never got your name."

"And I never got yours. I'm Gretchen."

"Michael."

Once I finished the glass of wine, I had went to clean the glass out in the sink. Just then I heard the front door open. Michael had went off into the living room while I was pretending not to indulge in wine tasting.

**INDEPENDENCE**

**[No one's POV]**

_FLASHBACK_

_Vice City, 2000, Saturday_

"Guys this is stupid, I don't think we should do this." Harleen whined.

"It's fine Harleen." Gretchen responded.

Her curly black hair was wet from the rain and her clothes were drenched as well. She stood there with Gretchen, Donnie, Gideon, Carla, and Avery as they waited for Greyson open the door.

The group of 11 year olds had decided that the best way to spend their Saturday was to break into the local arcade that wasn't too far from their schools. It was closed for the day since the owner had an out of town emergency. Well, the idea was entirely Greyson and Donnie's idea, everyone else just went with it. Harleen protested against doing so but stopped since she had nothing to do. It didn't stop her from going on about how this was a bad idea.

"If you didn't want to do this then why did you follow us anyway?" Carla asked.

"Because I thought that at some point, you guys would decide this was stupid! Plus...I didn't have anything else to do."

"Then stop whining." Gideon told her.

"Shh, would you guys keep quiet?" Gretchen said in a hushed tone.

The arguing ceased when Gretchen spoke up and the children continued to wait on their friend.

"Wish _someone_ would hurry up before I drown out here." Carla commented.

"Maybe _someone _should've worn a sweater." Avery said, rolling her eyes.

"How was I supposed to know it was going to rain?"

This time Donnie spoke up. "We live in Florida, it rains half the time."

"Ugh! Whatever!"

Finally they heard the door open and Greyson's smirking face was revealed.

"I give you gaming nirvana." He said confidently.

All of the kids rushed in except Gretchen. She simply smiled and raised her fist. Greyson chuckled and went for the fist pound before both of them went into the arcade. Greyson made sure to close the door.

The owner had left curtains blocking off the windows, so the kids could perfectly play without anyone seeing them inside.

"We didn't bring any quarters though." Carla said.

"Oh!" Greyson started. He then pulled out a screw driver. "I found this...is that geezer's office."

"It's just a stupid screw driver." Said Avery.

"It's the screw driver he uses to get the quarters out of the machines." Greyson replied with an attitude. "Unscrew one of the latches on these bad boys and again, gaming nirvana."

"Enough with the explanations, let's just play. Who knows when that guy will show up again." Gretchen said.

"The note said out of town emergency." Greyson responded.

"Well it could be a false alarm dodo bird."

"Shut up!"

_END FLASHBACK_

_A day later…_

"So you guys basically broke into an arcade without me?" Katrina asked with a false look of sadness.

"What were we supposed to do? Wait for you to decide to come back to Vice City?"

The two were currently sitting on the couch back at the house rekindling their friendship. Patti sat in a one seated chair near the couch watching TV, listening to their conversation.

"What happened after that?" Patti asked, not talking her green eyes away blue eyes from the television.

"Well technically we were all supposed to be at Avery's house for a sleepover and we snuck out. Avery's older brother ratted us out. Everyone was grounded for like a month."

Just then, Patti's phone vibrated. The redhead picked it up and looked at the screen for a couple minutes. She then looked at both of the girls.

"So a co-star of mine is apparently going to do this party at Bahamas Mamas West. You guys wanna go?" The redhead asked.

Katrina shrugged. "I dunno…."

Patti sighed and rolled her eyes. "Come on Trina, you hardly EVER go with me to these things anymore. It sucks. Besides, tomorrow's Sunday and you never on Sundays, right? Gretch, you working tomorrow?"

The blackette shook her head. "No, the De Santas will be fine for one day."

"Is that what they said or is that what you're saying?" Katrina asked with her eyebrow raised.

"Let's not worry about that right now. Let's worry about what outfits we're wearing to the club."

"Well Gretchen here is on board….Trina?" Patti asked.

Katrina stole glances in between both Gretchen and Patti before rolling her eyes. "Fine but only because I don't want to be here alone."

Patti jumped up and cheered before heading upstairs to get ready. Then Gretchen stood up, looked at Katrina with a look of triumph and went up the stairs as well. Katrina sat there on the couch with a worried look on her face.

"God, I'm going to regret this sooo badly." She whispered to herself.

Despite quickly getting ready, the girls still looked like club dimes. Patti was wearing a red body con dress and a pair of black t-strap heels. Gretchen wore a crop top which had "I 3 LC" on it, over it she wore a purple leather letter jacket with purple leather skinny jeans and Black wedges. Katrina was wearing a yellow sundress with white flats and white bangles.

The drive there to Bahamas Mamas west took a while, but the girls got there regardless. Katrina parked her SUV in one of the open spaces in front of the club. All three noticed the large line by the front door.

"Welp! Looks like it's a REALLY long line. Guess we won't be getting in tonight, let's try again another night!" Katrina said quickly.

"NICE TRY!" Patti called out. The redhead took off her seat belt and stepped out of the car. "Let's go."

Gretchen chuckled and was the next to get out of the car. Katrina rolled her eyes and muttered 'whatever' before turning off the car and getting out.

Patti walked up to the bouncer with a winning smile. "Hey Sebastian, busy night?" She asked.

The bouncer nodded. "Yeah, there some TV show filming here tonight and everyone wants their 15 seconds of face." Sebastian then looked behind Patti to see both Gretchen and Katrina. "Evening Katrina, who's this?"

Gretchen waved but Patti answered. "This is Gretchen, she just came here from Vice City."

"Nice to meet you miss." Sebastian greeted.

"Of course it is." The blackette replied.

Sebastian laughed. "She's funny. I like her already." The muscle built guy then moved aside so all three of the girls could enter the club.

The club wasn't all the packed but it was a decent amount of people. Like the bouncer said, there was a small film crew there in one of the VIP areas.

Patti leaned in to Gretchen and Katrina. "A few of the VIP sections are open and I know the owner, wanna sit there?" She asked the two. They both nodded and Patti has done so in agreement. "Grab one; I'll get us something to drink."

Patti went to the bar and Gretchen led Katrina to one of the empty booths. The booth sat next to another one which seemed to be occupied by some high roller. He had some guards posted in front of the booth. The guy was with some of his other friends.

Before Gretchen stepped towards the booth, Katrina grabbed the blackette's wrist. "Um….let's go to one further away from those guys."

"Why?"

"I just—I just think that they might bother us and I-I really don't wanna be bothered." The brunette replied.

"All we have to do is shoo them off, it's no big deal."

"Please?" Katrina begged.

Gretchen looked at her friend and looked at the group before turning back to Katrina.

"Fine, let's go."

Katrina let out a sigh of relief and followed Gretchen to a different booth. The girls sat down and waited for Patti to show up with their drinks.

"_Triiinaaa~_" A voice called out.

"Oh god." Was all Trina muttered.

The very man in the booth Trina wanted to avoid showed up with a smile plastered on his face. The familiarity confused Gretchen as she looked between the two people.

"Uh…Trina, you know this loser?" Gretchen asked. It was clear to the blackette that this person made her friend uncomfortable so being nice was out of the question.

"Loser?" The guy questioned. "Trina, tell your friend she should be more polite."

"If you have anything to say to me, then say it to ME."

The man chuckled. "Look, dollface—"

"Don't dollface me, loser."

The man kept a smile but it a forced one. "The conversation is between me and Katrina."

"Katrina and _I_." Gretchen corrected.

"Are…are you giving me grammar lessons?"

"No, I'm giving you banking advice, yes I'm correcting your grammar."

"Gretchen its fine. Can you just…go find Patti, I'll deal with this."

"No need, we can talk in the hall." The man said.

Katrina got up and followed the man to the hall where the bathrooms were. Gretchen eyed the guy carefully as he walked away before stepping out of the booth. Once she did, she heard a chuckle coming from one of the guy's bodyguards who apparently followed the guy here for obvious reasons.

"What the hell you laughin' at chuckle-nuts?" Gretchen asked with irritation in her voice.

The guard quickly silenced himself as he looked over to Gretchen. Her voice was eerily menacing for some reason. In her defense, you watch your friend walk off with some guy you don't trust; you'd probably be irritated too.

Gretchen groaned before heading to the direction of where Katrina and that guy went. There was no door so she could easily just sit by the entrance way and eavesdrop on their conversation.

She peaked around the corner to see both Katrina and the guy. Katrina was leaning against the wall with her arms crossed and her eyes looking down at her feet. Meanwhile the guy stood in front of her, seemingly talking down to her.

"You're a bit late this month aren't you?" Gretchen heard the man say to Trina.

"I'm always late, you know that."

"Well when I give you a due date, I expect you to follow through. If you cared about your life, you'd make sure to make the deadline. Got it?" Katrina nodded; she never looked up at him.

'What the fuck?' Gretchen thought. She turned her hearing back to the conversation when she her man chuckle.

"See? Cooperating with me always works out right?" He asked the brunette. "Now why don't you tell me about your friend out there."

"She's just my friend."

"Maybe I'd like to get to her better."

"You couldn't me even if you tried, loser." Gretchen muttered.

"How about me then?" Another voice asked.

Gretchen quickly whipped her head to a blonde man standing near her with a smirk on his face. She rolled her eyes and faced him, crossing her arms.

"Can I help you?" She asked.

"Seemed lonely., thought I offer some of my company."

"Well, I'm not lonely. So you can go away now."

"Oh don't be like that."

"Oh my god, if I humor you, will you go away?"

"Trust me, sweetheart. You'll won't want me to."

"What do you want?"

"Steve Haines, but you already knew that." The man introduced.

"No…no I don't know who that is. Are you supposed to be famous?"

"Famous? I'm the star of The Underbelly of Paradise."

"Never heard of it. So now that we've established this, can you go away? I'm kind of busy."

"What? Spying on your ex?"

"My ex? You think that guy is my ex?"

"Yeah, he dumped you and moved onto to something else. You're feeling jealous. You know…I can fix that." He said. His hand reached to gently cup her chin but Gretchen casually moved it away causing Steve to chuckle.

"No. Now if you're done, can you go? I have more important things to do."

Steve smirked. One of his assistants came over. "Mr. Haines, we're ready for you."

"Alright look beautiful, it's time for me to do the world a favor. We'll meet again, I'm sure."

"Oh I HIGHLY doubt that. Maybe your dreams though." Gretchen replied.

Steve Haines walked away while Gretchen rolled her eyes. She didn't notice that the conversation between both Katrina and the mystery guy had ended and they were both coming her way. First the man showed up. Seeing Gretchen there, he flashed a smile.

"Hey beautiful," The man said, causing Gretchen to jump. "Come to check on your friend?" He asked.

"Uhhh no, I was just heading to the bathroom but then someone stopped to talk to me." Gretchen replied quickly. "I didn't even know you and Trina were back there."

"Well you ain't got nothing to worry about. I didn't hurt her or anything."

Gretchen glared at the man after he said that. "Trust me, if you did hurt her. I'd make sure you'd wish that the condom your parents used the night you were conceived didn't break, loser."

"Back to _loser_? You and me should get on more friendly terms."

"I'd rather eat cat shit."

"Gretchen? What are you doing here?"

"I was going to the bathroom." The blackette replied, keeping her eyes fixed on the man. "You alright?"

"Yeah, I'm fine."

"THERE YOU GUYS ARE—" Patti's sentence was interrupted when she saw the man standing next to Katrina.

"Ms. ." Was all he said before walking off.

Patti glared at the man as he walked off before turning to Katrina, rushing to her side.

"He didn't do anything to you, did he?" The redhead asked.

"No, I'm fine. Let's just go to the bathroom."

Both Patti and Gretchen followed the brunette into the women's bathroom. Gretchen checked to see if there was anyone else in the bathroom. Once the coast was clear she turned to Katrina, who was leaning against one of the sinks. Patti stood next to her looking into the mirror, fixing her make-up.

"Alright, who was the guy?" Gretchen asked.

Katrina sighed. "It's just some asshole…"

"It's not just some asshole. Patti, who is that guy?"

"He's some mafia guy. Name's Leon Belrose"

"And why does he know you and Patti?"

"Fuck. I REALLY didn't want you to meet him, Gretchen. He's just some guy that….Patti and I witnessed kill someone." Katrina explained.

"WHAT?!"

"Would you keep your voice down?" Patti hushed. "We were at the pier one day and we heard screaming. We thought someone might be injured and we went to check it out."

Katrina resumed the explanation. "There WAS someone hurt and Leon and his guys were the ones beating him up before Leon shot the guy in the head. Patti couldn't help it she freaked out and made a noise and they found us watching everything that happened. Before long he has us paying him." She went on. "It was our promise to keep quiet or they said they'll kill us."

"Well why is this the first time I'M hearing about this?"

"To be completely honest, we thought we could keep this under wraps while you were here."

"Really? You thought you could keep the fact that you owe some mafia thug money? What happens if you don't pay him?"

"We get killed, duh!" Patti answered.

"Alright, look. I might….know a guy who owes me few favors."

"What?"

"It's…a loan shark."

Patti groaned. "Oh so your genius plan is to borrow money from someone who'll kill us if we don't pay HIM back?! WHAT THE FUCK, GRETCHEN?!" She shouted.

"I SAID he owes me favors. Technically, he would be paying ME back."

"Why not just ask your parents?" Patti questioned.

Gretchen flashed a fake smile. "THAT'S A GREAT IDEA!" the sarcasm was strong. "I can imagine the conversation now. _Hey mom, hey dad, turns out this cut/off thing isn't working out. Can I borrow a few grand? Well why sweetie? Well turns out Katrina and her roommate owe some mafia family some money!_" Gretchen went on. "They'll totally back me up on that."

"How are you even on friendly terms with a loan shark?" Patti questioned.

"It's Vice City, everyone knows at least one." Gretchen answered. "Look, let's just go, NOW."

* * *

><p>And there's chapter two.<p>

Katrina and Patti are in a weird debt and Gretchen knows a loan shark. I hope you guys enjoyed that chapter.

I also wanted to say that the first 10 of these chapters are pre written. It's sort of as a I'm sorry to those who were waiting for an update forever on the previous version of the story. Just so no one had to wait for chapters. But after chapter 10, then there will be waiting for some days.


	3. Sharp Shooter, Room Raider

And here we are for chapter 3.

**Disclaimer**: I don't own GTA or ANY of the characters, I just own my OCs

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 3<strong>: Sharp Shooter, Room Raider

* * *

><p><strong>De Santa House<strong>

Since Katrina was sick and Patti was already gone by the time Gretchen woke up, Gretchen was left on her own when it came to driving to work.

It wasn't much hassle for the blackette since she really just took Katrina's SUV. Unfortunately, it was this day where Los Santos would find that Gretchen drove terribly, despite being someone with a license.

_[Gretchen: Hey, I left that chick a note._

_Liza: You can't run over someone and leave them a note. The least you could've done was call an ambulance for them._

_Gretchen: When someone finds the note, THEY'LL call the paramedics and I don't have to sit there for hours talking to the police._

_Liza: UGH!]_

Like always, majority of the house wasn't all that messy, all except for Jimmy's room. Luckily, he was out so Gretchen didn't have to hear his really bad pick-up lines or ask her if she was down to play righteous slaughter. Of course, his mom and dad would tell him to back off and his sister would berate him leading them to argue.

If the blackette could describe this family in one word, it would be 'dysfunctional'. Now Gretchen's family weren't the picture perfect all American family either but they didn't fight every time they passed each other in the hall.

"Um Gretal?" Tracey called out.

Gretchen rolled her eyes and turned to the blonde, who was standing in her room's threshold. "It's Gretchen."

"Right, sorry. Do you think you can help me with my make-up?"

"That's…an odd request."

"Well, I'm meeting this guy and I want my make-up to be perfect but I'm too nervous, I have shaky hand and—"

"Relax, I didn't say I wasn't going to do it." Gretchen said, easing the blonde. "Come on, take me to your make-up table."

Tracey smiled and tugged Gretchen into her room. Once they were in their, Tracey sat down by her vanity table and Gretchen observed the table.

"Alright, so what do you have in mind?" Gretchen asked.

"Hmm….something that says I'm not a slut but I don't mind putting out on the first date."

"I can totally do that."

"THERE'S NO MAKE-UP THAT CAN HIDE YOUR SLUTYNESS!" Jimmy yelled from his room.

"That fucking…" Was all Gretchen heard come from Tracey's mouth before the blonde stomped to Jimmy's room.

Gretchen sighed before she sat where Tracey sat down before. 'These two are a mess." She muttered.

**Meanwhile**

Franklin climbed onto the roof using the jeep as leverage. He was really not in the mood for anything of this right. Between all the bullshit that happened yesterday with Lamar and those Vagos and Simeon about the bike today, all he wanted to do was get what he needed to get back home and relax or maybe go workout all of his stress.

He began to climb through the slim window of what appeared to be a bathroom.

"JUST BECAUSE YOU HAVE A MASSIVE GAPER BITCH!" He heard someone yell, causing him to stop.

"You little homo, you're dead. DAD! JIMMY SAID I HAVE A MASSIVE….JIMMY CALLED ME A BITCH!" He heard another voice.

Not too long afterwards, Franklin saw a blonde walk pass the bathroom. She apparently didn't notice him or else she would've freaked out. Franklin cautiously stepped into the bathroom before sneaking out the door.

"TRY TO KNIFE ATTACK ME?! NO ONE CREEPS UP ON THE J-DOG MY NIGGAS!"

'The fuck?' Franklin thought. If he wasn't trying not to get caught, he'd deal with that situation.

There was guy sitting on the bed too invested in their game to notice anyone creeping around.

"Sorry about that, can we finish?"

"Yeah, come on." This was a different voice.

Still with caution, Franklin towards the room near the bathroom and peaked around the corner to make sure it was safe to pass. He saw two girls by a vanity table. One was sitting down while the other, dressed as a maid, was doing her make-up for her.

With the coast being clear, Franklin made his way to the stairs and made sure to quietly descend them. So far, so good things were going well. Once he reached the lower level, he heard a door opening. It wasn't the front door, though. In the kitchen, a man and a woman in tennis outfits. They seemed really close from Franklin's perspective.

Once they had their backs turned, Franklin snuck across to the garage. Inside sat the yellow SUV, on Simeon's repair list.

"Fuckin' finally." Franklin said to himself.

The 25 year old opened the garage door before going into the car, starting it up and driving it out. No one had noticed that it had left...at least that's what Franklin thought.

**St. Patrick Residence**

Katrina was in the kitchen looking through the fridge for something to snack on while Patti was upstairs on the phone with her boyfriend.

Katrina was startled when she heard the front door open and slam shut.

"There you are!" Katrina exclaimed. "Why did you take my car?"

"I thought you believed in giving to needy?"

"I do."

"I _needed_ to get to work and you _needed_ to get some rest. See? I was helping two needy people. Also, you should probably think about getting your license plate changed and getting a new paint job because your car was involved in a sort hit and run."

"What? What you do mean a SORT OF hit and run?!"

"Not important right now! What is important is what happened today at work."

"What happened?"

"Someone robbed the De Santas?"

"Oh my gosh, is everyone ok?"

"Yeah, everyone's fine but they stole Jimmy's car."

"No one saw anything?"

"No. I was helping Tracey with her make-up and Jimmy was playing video games. Dunno what Michal and Amanda were doing though. Michael found out and went out, something about a dealership. Then he came back with a couple scraps."

"He…fought someone?"

"How else do you get scraps?"

"Getting beat up?"

"Nah, he had maybe a few here and there but nothing to suggest that he was beaten up."

"So a dealership stole the car? That doesn't make any sense."

"I didn't hear much of their conversation."

"So why tell me this?"

Gretchen shrugged and started her way upstairs. "I dunno….I was bored…plus I needed to tell you something that would ease you after telling you that I hit someone with your car."

"WHAT?!"

Gretchen quickly ran up the stairs to avoid Katrina's wrath.

"YOU'RE FUCKING DEAD, SOUSA!" Katrina shouted throughout the house.

**INDEPENDENCE**

**Gretchen's room**

Gretchen stood in front of her wide mirror that was attached to the wall above her dresser. She was wiping the make-up that Katrina had put all over her face. The brunette had managed to get Patti in on the fun and the two proceeded to draw kitty faces all over Gretchen's face.

"I'm gonna kill those two." Gretchen muttered.

Gretchen's phone began to ring and vibrate on the bed. She strangely felt reluctant to answer the call. She cautiously walked over and picked up her IFruit phone, one look at the caller ID and her suspicions were confirmed. She knew if she didn't answer, the person would call her again and again and again.

"Yo, this is Gretchen. Leave a message after the beep!" She said.

"Nice try, that isn't going to work on me twice." The voice on the other end said.

"What do you want Donnie?" The blackette asked rudely.

"Geez, you'd think you'd be a little bit nicer to the only person who knows what happened to our favorite sharkie."

"What happened to Angelo?"

"He's hiding."

"From who?"

"His friends said he pissed off some family call the Cortezes or Banderases, I don't remember their fuckin' name." Donnie explained.

"Oh my god. You've got to be kiddin' me."

"Why do you need him anyway?"

"A friend of mine is in some…money trouble."

"Then ask your parents to…nevermind."

"Exactly."

"Well who do they owe?"

"Take a guess."

"I dunno, mafia?"

"Yep."

"Jesus and I thought Vice City was crawling with gangs."

"You're tellin' me and I totally called the guy a loser too."

"Nah, I don't think he'll get mad over being called a loser….that insult is so 90s."

"Shut up."

"So you can't get money for your friends, now what?"

"I don't know. Maybe…maybe I can talk to my mom and ask her. She was always easy on me."

"I thought you were a daddy's girl? Just tell your dad that _you're _the one who needs the money."

"No, because he would come down here. That might raise more problems than solve them." Gretchen stayed silent for a bit before speaking again. "I'll think of something, thanks anyway Donnie."

"Ok, talk to you soon."

"Later."

Both parties hung up the phones. Gretchen gently tossed her phone onto the bed before she flopped backwards onto the soft surface. She let out a stressful sigh.

"Now what?" She asked, as if someone would answer her.

**INDEPENDENCE**

**De Santa Residence**

Gretchen walked up to the front door of the De Santa house. She fixed her uniform then knocked on the front door. There was no answer; all that was heard was muffled yelling. Gretchen quickly recognized the voices as Tracey and Amanda.

"Why am I not surprised?" Gretchen asked herself.

From her view, it appeared that no one else was in the house because they would've opened the door. That or they couldn't hear the knocking over the yelling. So Gretchen walked to the backyard.

She placed her bag on the side of one of the chairs before sitting down and lounging in the seats. She pulled out her phone and began life invading her friends' pages to see what they were up to. It was something she forgot to do when she was on the phone with Donnie.

It wasn't too long after; the muffled yelling became clearer before going back to their muffled state. The blackette looked up and saw Michael walking over with a mp3 in his hand as well has a glass of whiskey, his go to drink.

"First I'm paying you to drink my wife's wine and now I'm paying you to lounge by my pool." He said.

"New age of house cleaners, you should get with the times." Gretchen replied.

Michael chuckled and sat in the chair beside her. "Speaking of cleaning…"

"No one answered the door. What was I gonna do? Stand outside the front waiting for an answer like a damn Girl Scout selling cookies? I'd look like some call girl wearing a fetish costume."

Michael laughed and placed his shades on before leaning back in the seat and popping his earphones in. Another person walked up and made his way towards Michael. The 24 year old took notice when the guy came closer.

"Looks like you have a visitor." The blackette said.

Michael heard and glanced in the direction she was looking in, seeing the guy who claim to have repoed his son's car. The guy nodded at Gretchen and gave a lazy wave in return. Meanwhile, Michael took off his headphones.

"What do you want?" Michael asked. Not in a rude way but in a more nonchalant way.

"Man, I just come by for the drink you offered." The man replied.

"Y'know, I wasn't serious about that."

"What?"

Michael shook his head. "Whatever, you're here. Sit down." The guy complied beside Michael, having the older man sitting in between him and Gretchen. "You're not gonna rob me again, are you?"

"Man, I never robbed you."

"So wait, this is the guy?"

"Yep." Michael replied.

Gretchen looked the man up and down before giggling. "So you come back here? That's pretty ballsy."

The guy shrugged and smirked as Michael spoke up. "What's your name, kid?"

"Franklin."

"Franklin. Franklin, this is Gretchen, my lazy maid. Gretchen, this is Franklin, the home invader."

Both the younger two waved at each other.

_A few minutes later…._

After talking for a few minutes, Michael slowly stood up from the chair.

"There's a little bar I like…not too far from here. I'll buy you a drink. Come on Gretchen, I'll get you one too." Michael stated.

Both Franklin and Gretchen stood up from the seats they were in and began to follow Michael. All three walked through the house to make their way to the front door. Midway, Michael's phone began to ring and the older blacket had stopped walking, causing the two behind him to stop in their tracks as well.

"Hang on a sec….Jim? Hey, listen I'm going out for drinks with—"

Though the two couldn't hear the conversation well, it seemed like Jimmy was frantic about something. The conversation went on for a minute or two before Michael hung up the phone, seeming to be angrier than before. He glanced at the two behind him before motioning them to follow him.

"Change of plans, my darling boy has been kidnapped." He stated.

"Eh, I'll help you out." Franklin said.

"Finally something fun to do…" Gretchen said calmly.

They all hopped into the red convertible. Michael in the driver's seat, Franklin in the passenger side, and Gretchen in the back.

**Highway**

"THERE! THAT'S MY BOAT!" Michael yelled.

"Your boat's in a fuckin' hurry man." Said Franklin.

Michael then made a sharp turn and began tailing the boat thieves. The thieves were driving erratically, knocking different cars onto their backs and into other cars. Michael dodged all of the oncoming cars. Surprisingly, there was no sign of cops anywhere even though there was a giant fucking truck knocking cars overs, no doubt killing people.

To be honest, Michael preferred this better than having the police are all over this. It wouldn't really be a good look if people in a red convertible was chasing after the truck. Plus, what would they do if they found Jimmy with them? They'd most likely think he's with them.

'Dammit.' Michael thought.

"Do we have a plan or are we just chasing the asshole?!" Gretchen asked, snapping Michael out of his thoughts.

"Yeah. Alright, look! Franklin, I'm gonna drive up to the back of that thing and you're gonna hop on and look for my son."

Once Michael explained his plan, Franklin looked at him with a shocked look. "WHAT?!"

"Don't worry, if anything happens. Gretchen will…." He trailed off and looked in the rearview mirror. "Gretchen, you know how to use a gun, right?" He asked.

"Of course I can!" Gretchen exclaimed.

"Good! If anything happens up on the boat, Gretchen will cover you." He added. "Sounds like a good plan?"

"Got it!"

"Girl, you're not the one about to play in the damn road!" Franklin yelled.

"You'll be fine!" Gretchen yelled. "Trust me, I'm a great shot!"

Franklin let out a low growl before getting up out of the seat as Michael sped up to get closer to the car. Once he was right behind the truck, Franklin hopped onto the back and began to climb up to the top. Once he was up there he was greeted by one of the thieves.

He easily dodged the punch before hearing a female voice yell 'get down'. Instantly knowing it was Gretchen's, he ducked. Gretchen quickly aimed and fired, hitting the thief in the neck. Franklin grabbed the body and tossed him over the side and onto the road. Michael dodged the oncoming body.

"HEY! STOP THROWING BODIES AT US!" Michael yelled.

Franklin began to look for Michael's son. While his back was turned, another one of the thugs emerged. Before he could get to Franklin, Gretchen fired another shot and nailed the guy right in the shoulder. When it looked like he wasn't going down, she fired another shot and nailed the guy in the chest, causing him to fall over.

Meanwhile, Franklin looked around the boat for Jimmy. The redhead finally emerged and spotted Franklin, he realized he's seen him before.

"Hey you're the guy from the dealership. What are you doing here?" Jimmy asked.

"It's a long story." Franklin responded.

Another one of the thugs emerged.

'Damn, how many of these guys are there?' Franklin thought.

Franklin went to confront the guy before he got to Jimmy. Jimmy, on the other hand, spotted his mother's car and in the driver's seat, his dad. Excited and relieved his dad came, he waved frantically.

"JIMMY, WATCH OUT FOR THE BOOM!" Michael yelled.

Unfortunately, it was too late. Jimmy was hit with the giant rod and it swung till it Jimmy was dangling over the highway street.

"Shit!." Michael exclaimed as he sped up to get underneath Jimmy. "Hang on, Jimmy."

One of the thugs began to crawl onto the boom, to try and a knock Jimmy off. Gretchen aimed the gun for a fourth time and fired, getting the guy in the side of his torso. The guy reacted by grabbing his side and lost his grip, falling onto the ground beneath him, the red convertible running him over a few seconds later.

While Franklin was dealing with the other thug, Michael was able to successfully get the car underneath Jimmy. The redhead let go of the boom and landed in the backseat of the car.

"What the hell is wrong with you, kid?!" Michael yelled.

"Dad!"

"Don't dad me you little shit!"

"Scooch over, chubster!" Gretchen said.

Jimmy moved over and Gretchen climbed into the backseat next to him.

"Hey, aren't you are maid?" Jimmy asked.

"No, I'm a highly trained assassin from South America. WHO DO I LOOK LIKE?!" Gretchen yelled.

"HEY! GET ME OFF OF THIS DAMN THING!" Franklin yelled.

Michael drove the car up to the back of the truck, where Franklin was waiting for them. Once close, Franklin hopped onto the hood of the car before climbing back into the front.

"Everyone on board? Alright, let's get this boat back."

The chase for the boat officially ensu-

*_Car fucking up noises_*

Well the chase was going to officially ensue, that was until the car started to slow down.

"Ooh, that doesn't sound good." Jimmy commented.

"Hey, that sounds like the engine, dog. We ain't chasin' nobody in this thing."

"Ah, fuck! Come on, come on, come on."

Despite his protests, the car wasn't going to comply anytime soon.

"FUCK!" Michael shouted.

"Yo man, there's a chop shop not too far from here. I know the guy; he'll be able to fix it up." Franklin told him.

Michael reluctantly turned the car around the first chance he, wanted to ignore his boat driving off into the horizon.

**Los Santos Customs**

The red convertible pulled up to the car shop. After a brief argument, that was awkward for both Franklin and Gretchen to sit through, everyone seemed to have calmed down from the half failed rescue attempt.

Michael got out of the car and waved down the cab that Franklin had called earlier.

"You got everything under control, right?" He asked Franklin.

Franklin moved into the driver's seat.

"Ooh! I'll move to the front." Jimmy said. He began to climb to the front seat.

"Just get out and go around." Michael suggested.

"No, I got it."

"Dude…" Gretchen leaned back when Jimmy's butt came into her view.

"Look, don't worry dog. I'll get the car fixed and bring it back to the house." Franklin said.

"Alright." Was Michael's only response.

He then got into the cab and the driver drove off.

"Alright, let's trick this whip homie." Jimmy said with glee.

Franklin said nothing but stared at the redhead with a slight look of annoyance. Gretchen shared the same sentiment. The 25 year old sighed before driving into the car shop. One of the workers there recognized Franklin and flashed a smile.

"Yo Franklin! Still gotta get you out to one of those races, see if you drive as fast as you talk." The guy said.

All three got out of the car. Jimmy and Gretchen waited as Franklin talked with the guy. There seemed to be an agreement between the two. Franklin then came over to tell the news.

"Alright, so Hao'll get it fixed in no time. All we gotta do is wait." He explained.

While they waited, Jimmy had gone off to bother one of the workers. Gretchen and Franklin stood side by side against the wall as they waited for the car to be repaired.

"Are they always like that?" Franklin suddenly asked Gretchen.

"Huh? What do you mean?"

"That family, they always argue like that?"

"Mmmm yeah, it practically become their only way of communicating. I've only been around them for a short while but I've grown totally used to it." Gretchen explained. She flashed an innocent smile. "If you're going to be around Michael, you'll get used to it too." She added.

"So, you're the maid?"

Gretchen rolled her eyes. "Tch…yeah…it's not one of my most proudest moments. I mean someone like me, reduced to cleaning up other people's shit. It's like one of those bad romance movies."

"Bad romance movies?"

"Yeah, like one of those movies where the upper class person falls for someone of the lower class because the upper class person fell on some hard times like losing their fortune…or being….cut/off." She went on.

"So you one of those rich girls who depend on your daddy's money? What? Expired too many credit cards?"

"Ha..ha.." Gretchen let out sarcastically. "No it's nothing like that."

"We've got some time before the car is fixed."

"I'll tell you about it another time. You've told me nothing about you, Mr. Repo man."

"I did give you a name."

"Yeah but now you know that I'm a member of the upper class who's fallen on tough times. The only thing I know about you is that you're the guy who broke into the De Santa's house. You'd kinda be leaving on a wrong note."

"It was just a repo."

"That guy said he has to get you out to a race. Are you one of those nascar guys?"

"Nah, that ain't me. Street racing."

"Ooh, you ever run over anyone?"

"The fuck?"

"In movies and games I always see somebody standing in the middle like they're a green light. People always run them over in video games, never saw it happen in the movies. Has that happen in real life?"

"No, we make sure things like that doesn't happen."

"And cops? I mean all that running red lights has to catch SOMEONE'S attention."

"Surprisingly, it doesn't. To be honest, ain't no other cars on the road but the racers too. When you think about it does seem strange."

"Uh…do you like cars or something?" The blackette asked.

"Yeah, hobby of mine. You?"

"Nah, as long as the car gets me where I need to go fast and in style, then that's all that matters to me."

"So you got a hobby besides shop—"

"ALRIGHT, ALL DONE!" Hao shouted, interrupting the conversation between the two.

**De Santa Residence**

The ride back to the house was only made longer with Jimmy's attempts to try and relate to Franklin as best as he could. All three of them got out of the car after Franklin parked it.

"You know," Jimmy started. "We should run together. I can get _really _crazy."

"Alright, dude. Hey look, go easy on your pops, alright?"

"Alright church." Jimmy responded before going back into the house.

Franklin and Gretchen were both standing there, both shook their heads. Gretchen then approached Franklin with her cellphone in her hands.

"What's your number?" She said to him.

"Why?"

"We never finished our conversation back at that car shop. With my number, you can call me to hang out."

"You seem so sure that I'll call." Franklin commented, with a smirk.

"Well…you could always call Jimmy." Gretchen remarked.

"…."

"Thought so." Gretchen then proceeded to the back, to grab her bag. "See you around, Franklin."

"Yeah, see you…"

**INDEPENDENCE**

**St. Patrick Residence**

"Katrina! I'm baaaack!~" Gretchen announced, but there was no reply. "Something else happened today!~"….Still no answer. 'Come to think of it, I didn't see any cars in the driveway.' Gretchen thought.

The blackette ascended the stairs and walked to Katrina's room, thinking maybe the brunette was sleeping. Once she opened the door, it was revealed that no one was in the room. The bed was neatly made and there was an open laptop seated at the end.

Gretchen casually walked over and decided to check the laptop, hoping to find an answer. Once she sat on the bed and turned the laptop in her direction.

The computer was on a Life Invader page. The name on page read 'Vincent Baxter'. A blond man who looked to be around Gretchen's age. The only other noticeable thing was that the page was on Vincent's messages. He was talking to someone named Cathleen Ryder, from the messages it seemed like these two were dating.

'I though messages were private, though?' Gretchen thought.

She quickly shrugged the thought off and stood up from the bed. She was about to leave the room when she heard a vibrating coming from the closet. With her curiosity getting the best of her, Gretchen opened the closet and looked around.

There on an organized pile of shoe boxes was a flip phone…

'Is that?' Gretchen started to think. 'A flip phone? In 2013?'

The blackette cautiously picked it up and read the caller ID but all it said was 'I' and nothing else. Gretchen eyed the phone carefully. It would be stupid of her to answer this random phone call from a flip phone. It seemed suspicious, so she set it back down and let it ring while she looked around the closet.

What appeared to be picture frames lying face down were also on top of the shoe boxes by the phone. She picked up the frame for it to reveal that there were no pictures in it. Though, underneath the frames with a few photos that was probably going in. Gretchen picked up the photos and sat on the floor facing the closet.

Strangely enough, the pictures were turned on their faces hiding whatever was on them. As if she was expecting to see some pretty gory images, Gretchen cautiously turned them over. The first image was of a guy who looked like he was in high school. Next to his face was an 'X' seemingly to be crossing this guy out for something. The 'X' was written in yellow marker. Maybe even in some sort of private school. In the corner of the photo was a date.

"8/11/2004." Gretchen read. "2004?" Gretchen thought back to 2004. "I was like 15 then…and that would mean…Katrina was 14. Who's the guy in the photo?"

She then picked up another one of the photos, turning it over to see its contents. It was another picture of a guy, a different one. This guy was wearing the same uniform as the previous guy but the date was different. This guy also had an 'X' next to him in yellow marker.

"9/5/2006. What are these?"

The blackette picked up another picture and quickly turned it over. Expecting to see another strange photo with somebody in it and an 'X' next to their face. She wasn't disappointed too. The next picture was of a girl with brown hair. Like the other boys, the girl appeared to be in her teens but she wasn't wearing a uniform. Actually she was wearing a basketball uniform. Her brown hair was in a ponytail and she had a beaming smile on her face.

Different from the other photos, this girl seemed to be ready to take a picture. Not surprising though, there was another 'X' next to her face. Gretchen looked down to read the date.

"2/10/2003."

Gretchen picked up the next photo, this photo showed a woman in a classroom. She was yawning and again this one had an 'X' next to her face. Though, Gretchen quickly recognized the woman.

"Is that?...Patti?" She questioned. Her eyes went down to the corner of the photo to read the date. "6/23/2007. Why is Patti's picture here?" She asked.

She then picked up another photo and turned it over. Though it was the same premise as the other photos, the person in the picture shocked her. It was the guy Katrina was trying to avoid at the club. Gretchen remembered that his name was Leon.

'Whatever she was doing with these pictures, that Leon guy was involved with them.' She thought. 'But why? Exactly what the fuck is Katrina doing?'

"What are you doing in here?" She heard suddenly.

Gretchen jumped and accidentally dropped the cell phone back onto the boxes. She quickly turned around and spotted Katrina standing in the doorway. The brunette wasn't smiling nor had her usually happy calm demeanor. The look in her eyes was more like you discovered something of hers that you weren't supposed to and now she would have to dispose of the witness.

"Katrina! I was just…um…I…was…looking for you…but you weren't here." Gretchen was nervous, though she didn't understand why.

Katrina glared at the blackette for a few minutes. "You're not supposed to be here."

* * *

><p>And then she died!<p>

Just kidding, so Gretchen has now met 2/3 of the Unholy Trinity and discovered her friend has pictures of people in her closet. I don't know what possessed me to make her character like this.

So question time: Why do you think Katrina has all these pictures in her closet? Why does she have a flip phone? Think you can solve this before I post the next chapter(s).

Also I was thinking on posting these three chapters together. Then upload another 3 sometime later after I recharge.


	4. Stalker

And now for the conclusion to the mystery closet!

* * *

><p>Recap: Gretchen moves to Los Santos from Vice City to live with her childhood friend, Katrina, and her roommate, Patti. Patti and Gretchen don't get along at first but Katrina manages to convince them to agree to a truce. They go out to the club only for Gretchen to find out that Katrina and Patti have had to pay a mafia boss named Leon ever since they witnessed him kill someone.<p>

Meanwhile, Gretchen gets a job as a maid for the De Santa family. She then meets Franklin through Michael and then helps Michael retrieve his son from a bunch of boat thieves which is….half successful. Coming back Gretchen discovers a small shrine in Katrina's closet where several pictures are including pictures of Patti and Leon, the mafia boss. She's then discovered by Katrina who seems PRETTY pissed about Gretchen being there.

* * *

><p>Chapter 4: Stalker<p>

* * *

><p>"You're not supposed to be here." Katrina hissed.<p>

Afraid of what was going to happen next, Gretchen quickly put the pictures back where she found them and closed the closet door.

"O-ok so the look you're giving me makes it seem like y-y-you're going to start wearing my skin like a fur coat." Gretchen stammered. "Sorry for going through your closet like that."

Katrina didn't reply back, she merely continued to glare at the woman before her. She then let out a sigh of relief. "Relax…I'm not going to kill you or anything. I have high hopes that you won't say anything about what you saw…am I right to have that hope in you?"

"Yeah, yeah, yeah, I-I won't say anything." Gretchen replied.

"Good. Then you have nothing to be so worried about from me."

"Uh….you want to tell me what all that is?"

Katrina sighed and crossed her arms, turning her head away from Gretchen. "It's my shrine…"

"Your…shrine?"

"Yeah, my shrine."

"Why are there pictures of people in…your…shrine?"

Suddenly Katrina blushed and smile, cupping her own face with her hands. "Those are all people I've considered my beloveds."

"Some of them have 'X's on them, though? Something like that, I'd expect a heart around their head or something."

"The 'X's mean they weren't truly my beloveds."

"And that Leon guy from the club…he was in the pictures to."

"…" Katrina didn't say anything about that.

"Why is he there if he's extorting money from you guys?"

"He's not my beloved anymore. A true beloved wouldn't extort money out of someone who loved them. I just haven't had the time to cross him out yet."

"Katrina….did you really witness him murder someone?"

"…." Another silence.

"Hey!"

"No…I didn't. Neither did Patti."

"Then why did she say—"

"Because that's what I told her. I was watching him while he had killed someone. It wouldn't have been a problem if one of his men didn't spot me. I ran back to Patti and said I accidentally witnessed someone get murdered and we needed to get out of here. I couldn't exactly tell her that I was watching the guy longer than the killing. Before we could leave, they cornered us."

Gretchen eyes widened at the explanation. "You were stalking a gangster?"

"Yes…I was but he's not worth it."

"Ok then how about—"

"Patti? Nah, that was just a crush. She gave me my first kiss and I kinda got attached. The crush blew over twice now."

"Oh ok..wait TWICE?!"

"Never mind that! Since you've been going through my things without permission, now you're going to help with something."

"W-what am I helping with?"

"I want to spy on my competition…"

"Competition?"

"My beloved Vincent has been talking with some girl…I think it's his girlfriend or someone trying to be."

"…"

Katrina growled. "UGH! I CAN'T ALLOW SOME SLAG TO HAVE HIM!" She yelled.

"Ok, relax, I'll help you. Just don't…hurt me."

With that, Katrina ran out of the room and Gretchen reluctantly followed.

"I guess satisfaction _did_ bring it back…it just wasn't the same after that." She mumbled as she left the room.

**INDEPENDENCE**

**Richards Majestics Apartments**

"Trina…why am I doing this?" Gretchen asked, using her Ifruit as a make-do walkie talkie as Katrina sat in the SUV back in the parking lot. The blackette stood in the elevator of the apartment complex and waited for her designated floor to come up.

"Y'know…you wouldn't be in this situation if you weren't being Ms. Curiosity. "

"So basically, I'm doing this because I discovered something I wasn't supposed to?" The blackette questioned.

"Yep." Gretchen could see the fake innocent smile on Katrina's face.

"And what will happen to me if I refuse to do this?"

"Still being curious? I'll kill you."

"What?!"

"Simple as that, I know about your shenanigans back in VC, I can convince your parents that something like that happened to you."

"Eh…." Gretchen was stunned by the reply before she started giggling nervously. "Ahahaha…..very funny 'Trina…joking…like you're gonna actually kill me…"

"…" There was no reply.

"Trina….Triiiinaaaa….oh fuck fine, I'll do it."

"I knew you'd come around." Katrina said with glee.

'Great…haven't seen my friend in so long and it turns out she's actually a damn psychopath…wow…' Gretchen thought.

"I'm not some psychopath, I'm in love."

"You're a stalker with a short attention span."

Finally the elevator dinged and the doors opened, revealing a lavish hallway with red carpets and gold colored walls. She exited the elevator and went to find the room of her target.

"Now…what apartment was I looking for again?" The blackette asked.

"Apartment number 604"

"You're not going to kill this chick are you?"

"I'm not a murderer."

"What you led me to believe just a while ago _heavily_ contradicts that statement."

"Reeelax, I'm not some psycho yandere."

"Again, that closet, what you told me AND what you're making me do _heavily_ contradicts that statement."

"….."

"….."

"….."

"Yes ma'am….."

Gretchen made her way to the apartment door and looked around to make sure no one was around.

"And you're _sure_ she isn't here?"

"I'm sure."

Gretchen sighed before kneeling down before the lock. "Luckily my bad boy phase is coming in handy."

"Bad boy phase?"

"Yea—well…it's more of a bad _girl_ phase."

"Wait? Girl? Does that mean you're a lesbian?"

"I'm bisexual." Gretchen corrected.

"Interesting…."

"You know, I'd feel a bit better about this whole thing if I knew what you were planning to do with this chick."

"Fine! If you want to be Ms. Curiousity still, then I'll tell you. I have a sneaking suspicion that missy isn't as single as she throwing herself out there to be. If I can prove she's dating someone already, Vincent will stay away from her."

"Eh?"

"She isn't playing fair if she's already got a medal." Katrina exclaimed.

"What the fuck are you—"

"Look just gets it done before she gets back."

"Whatever." She said just at the lock clicked, signaling that the door was now unlocked.

Gretchen double checked to make sure no one was coming before she cautiously made her way into the apartment. At first glance, it seemed that no one was in the place at the moment. Gretchen wasn't 100% trusting of this. One bad move and someone could pop up from anywhere. Gretchen really couldn't think of an excuse that would sit. This wasn't a hotel so pretending to be housekeeping was really out of the question.

The 24 year old decided to shrug of the concerns for now and start placing the cameras around the place like Katrina told her to do. A tiny voice in the back of her head was telling her to do this right because Katrina's sanity might in fact be nonexistent. She stalked a mob boss resulting in her paying the guy in order for the both Patti and Katrina to keep their lives. Instead of learning from that, the brunette simply took it as 'he's not the one' and moved on to someone else. Anybody who does that…simply is not sane and in Trina's case…most likely not sane anymore.

Anyways, back to Gretchen, who had placed one of the small cameras in what appeared to be a dying plant.

'No one's going to water this s.o.b.' Gretchen thought.

She then placed another one in the mix of cable boxes, DVD players and wires that sat under the TV. Another one, hid behind the appliances in the kitchen while another one, was hidden in one of the wall corners. Gretchen then made her way to the downstairs level.

To her relief, there was no one here as well. She put another camera right next to the radio that sat by the bed, the black color of the camera blending with the slight shadows and the black radio. For the final one, she placed in the barrage of clothes that sat in the walk-in closet.

"And done. Alright Katrina, I'm all finished, now what?" Gretchen asked.

"Next you leave and make your way back to me."

"Alright."

Wouldn't you guess, just as Gretchen was about to leave, the blackette heard the front door opening before hearing voices.

"Oh shit." She whispered.

"What happened?" Katrina asked.

"I think she's back."

"What? I didn't see her park the car."

"Fuckfuckfuckfuckfuckfuck…." Was all Gretchen managed to mutter before going to hide behind the bathroom door? 'No reason for her to close the bathroom door right?' She thought, closing her eyes, feeling relieved. 'Oh wait…I heard two voices…shit!' She added. 'Please don't let them need to take a shit.'

The voices continued conversing back and forth. Eventually the only thing Gretchen was able to deceiver was someone mentioning the bathroom. The blackette looked up at the ceiling with a frown 'You hate me _that_ much?"

Soon the footsteps descending the stairs got closer and closer before Gretchen saw a figure pass by through the slim slit. It was a male's figure. The bathroom door was wide open to wear it created at small isolated space for Gretchen in the corner behind it. Seemingly, the perfect hiding place if you were 6 year old playing hide-n-seek.

The figure turned the shower water on before they stood in the bathroom for a bit, probably getting the feeling they were being watched. Another set of footsteps came closer and entered the bathroom.

"Something wrong?" A more feminine voice asked.

"Just got that feeling I was being watched is all." A more masculine voice replied.

One of figures had hit the other before laughing. "That isn't funny, your little joke wasn't funny yesterday and it isn't funny today."

The other figure laughed. "The look on your face was priceless though."

'Fucking leave already!' Gretchen shouted in her head.

The two people went on talking before they grew silent, Gretchen hearing kissing sounds coming right after. The blackette quietly let out a breath of relief and pulled out her phone, making sure her phone was on silent. She then texted Katrina….

Gretch: Need a distraction! LIKE NOW!

Trina: On it!

"We should probably hurry up and get ready before we're late to your mother's dinner party."

"She'll won't mind if I'm a couple—"

The person's reply was interrupted when the fire alarm started going off. The two looked around frantically before heading upstairs to see if anything in the house was burning. Gretchen came from behind the door and cautiously made her way up the stairs before hiding when she spotted the couple in the kitchen.

"You think it's happening somewhere else?" The woman asked.

The man nodded and headed to the door. "Yeah, come on."

The couple hurried out of the house, the door slamming behind them.

"Oooh thank god." Gretchen let out, coming out of her hiding place by the stairs. Her cellphone began to ring and she instantly knew it was Katrina. "Hello?"

"You out yet?"

Gretchen slowly opened the front door and looked to see if the couple was out there. To her luck, they were long ways down the hall. She slowly closed the door, using the loud ringing of the fire alarms to her advantage.

She then began walking down the hall and going through the door that led to a stairwell.

**INDEPENDENCE**

Katrina waited outside the building along with the crowd of residents who were waiting for the 'ok' to go back into the apartment. Along with her few others, including the couple, Gretchen finally came out and jogged up to Katrina.

The two then left the crowd and headed to the SUV.

"Pretty neat distraction, huh?" Katrina asked, with a smirk on her face.

"Setting off the fire alarm? Yeah, pretty juvie but yeah. I think someone's gonna notice that they were tampered with though."

"Tampered with what?"

"The alarms."

"I never touched them."

"Then how did—"

"I set an actual fire…duh."

"W….where?"

"In the laundry room. "

"You set an actual fire to try and get me out?"

"Yes….you wouldn't have?"

"..."

"Y'know Trina, you have REALLY changed."

"Well, the same can be said about you."

"Can it really?"

"Yep."

"Whatever...anyways, look I think the chick might have a boyfriend. That guy she came out with, seemed like more than a friend."

"Ok..."

"So you don't need to spy on her, right?"

"I can't just tell Vincent that information. I need proof, dammit!"

"Ok ok! Relax." Gretchen threw her hands up in defense. "So now what?"

"Now I get all proof I need and you resist going through my private matters again. The next time I found you in my stuff again, I'm gonna unload a shit ton of drain-o in your next drink."

"So that's it? I'm finished with your weird stalker madness?"

"No, you've learned my secret but I won't ask for your assistance for awhile now."

"O...ok."

"Let's go."

Both of the girls got into the car, though Gretchen was a bit more cautious about entering than Katrina was.

**INDEPENDENCE**

**De Santa Residence**

Gretchen sat in the living room watching Fame or Shame while eating a pack of Gummy Bears. She kinda half-assed the cleaning today since she her mind was still on the topic of the once innocent girl she knew turning into a stalker and being 100% cool about it.

The blackette was so invested in her thoughts, she didn't hear Amanda come in to the room.

"Um...Gretchen?"

Gretchen turned to the brunette who was currently in her tennis attire.

"Do you think you can head out to the grocery store. You know get some fruits and...things?" She asked.

"Uhh...sure?"

"Great! There's some money on the counter, take your time!" Amanda then quickly went back into the dining room to talk to her tennis instructor.

Gretchen got up from the couch and went into the kitchen, grabbed the money, and left the house.

_Some time later..._

Michael had just stepped outside of his house. He didn't find anyone inside the house, so he decided to step outside for a quick smoke. Just as he lit the cancer stick, Gretchen's car pulled up to the house.

The blackette stepped out of the car with a couple of brown paper bags in both of her arms. Michael chuckled and shook his head before tossing his cigarette down and walking towards her.

"You know, this is one of the things she usually loves doing." He commented.

Gretchen shrugged and let out a breath of relief as one of the bags was taken from her possession. "Yeah, well, didn't have anything better to do. Are movies from the 1500s all you got in there? God those actors must be fossils by now."

"Hey, ain't nothing wrong with the classics...and those movies are not from the 1500s."

"Coulda fooled me."

Michael stopped in his tracks and Gretchen followed his action. She peeked out from behind him to see what happened. The older man's gaze was pointed towards the floor in front of the front door. Gretchen eyes followed his eyes to see two tennis rackets propped up against the side, one pink and one blue.

'I don't get it, what's-' Her thoughts were interrupted when Michael growled.

"You gotta be fuckin' kidding me!"

With that, he dropped the paper bag he was previously holding and stormed into the house, shouting Amanda's name at the same time.

Gretchen looked down at the dropped bag, as most of its contents fell out of it. She groaned before kneeling down to pick it the contents. Due to the fact that she was busy, she did not notice Franklin coming up from behind.

"Need some help?" He asked her.

She nodded. "That would be great, thanks."

The 25 year old kneeled down beside Gretchen and helped her pick up the contents.

"WOAH!" A shout descended from the second floor window as the man known as Amanda's tennis coach took a leap of faith from the window and landed safely onto the ground.

"What now?" Gretchen groaned.

Suddenly a shout was heard from the window. "I'M PAYING THAT ASSHOLE 250 BUCKS AN HOUR TO FUCK MY WIFE?! IN MY OWN BED?!"

The tennis instructor then ran off to his car and quickly drove off.

"Hang on a sec." Franklin said.

He then stood up and walked towards the front door. Michael came running down the stairs with Amanda tailing behind him in nothing but a white towel.

She looked at the doorway to see Franklin standing there. "Hey! You! Stop him!"

"What's going on?" Franklin asked.

"Outta my way!"

"What happened?"

"Nothing happened, it was just a misunderstanding."

"A naked one apparently..." Gretchen muttered.

"She fucked a prick in my bed." Michael then pushed pass Franklin and headed towards the repair man's truck. "You comin?" he asked Franklin.

The younger one looked back between Amanda and Michael before shrugging his shoulders. "Fuck it, let's go."

Both men hopped into the truck with Michael in the driver's seat.

"Please, JUST DON'T KILL HIM!" Amanda shouted at the truck that was now driving out.

She then growled and stormed back into the house, slamming the front door behind her. Gretchen was left standing outside, with a fallen bag of groceries at her feet. She looked back between the front door and the gate to the driveway.

"What the fuck is happening?" She asked herself. She finished picking up the groceries and went into the house.

_Some time later..._

Gretchen waited inside the house. She could have left the house since her shift was over but then she would be lying if she said she didn't want to know what happened when Franklin and Michael found the guy.

'Or maybe they lost him...' She thought.

Her question would soon be answered when she heard the truck pull up in the drive-way. She immediately came out of the house. Michael got out of the car with a smile plastered on his face.

"What the fuck happened? Did you get him?" Gretchen asked.

Michael started to chuckle. "We _talked_ to him."

"We did a bit more than talk to him."

"Well, what did you do to him?"

Suddenly another car pulled up in the drive-way.

"Aw shit!" Franklin groaned.

"You're about to find out." Michael remarked.

Several men with ponytails stepped out of the SUV. One of them went to open the door for someone. That someone, was a man who appeared to be in his 50s and he seemed pissed. Followed behind him was a woman much younger than he was.

"Do you know who I am? DO YOU KNOW WHO I AM?!" He began asking. "DO YOU?!" He asked pointing  
>"No." Michael answered.<p>

The old man then pointed at Gretchen. "Do you?!"

"Should I?"

The man growled and pointed at Franklin. "You?"

"I think so." Was all he answered.

"Good." Was the man's reply. He then looked at Michael again. "I know who you are, I know where you live. You two! Who are you?"

"I'm Franklin."

"Gretchen."

"Licenses!" The old man demanded.

Franklin let out aggravated sigh and reached into his pocket while Gretchen rolled her eyes and reached into the inside of the maid's uniform, specifically the torso area, and pulled out her licence. Both handed them to one of the guy's guard dogs. The old man snatched it out of the guy's hands before looking over both cards.

"Now Franklin, would you kindly explain to these two who I am?"

Franklin looked at both Michael and Gretchen to explain. "Look, Mr. Madrazo is a...legitimate business man who was wrongfully accused of running an underground Mexican-American gang and a narcotics ring. The charges against him were dropped when the witnesses came up...missing."

"Shit..." Gretchen muttered under her breath.

"Smart kid. Now, Michael...a question for you" Madrazo turned and received a bat from one of his bodyguards before turning back to Michael and hitting in the side, knocking Michael onto the ground.

Gretchen and Franklin were about to help him up when Madrazo's men pointed guns at them, keeping them in place.

"WHAT POSSESSED YOU TO PULL AN ARCHITECTURAL, SIGNIFICANT, MODERN, WONDER HOME DOWN THE HILLSIDE IN VINEWOOD HILLS!?"

Michael coughed before answering. "I...thought the owner was banging my wife."

"Well that was a strange house for tennis coach."

"Well, I wasn't thinking straight."

"Clearly."

Madrazo handed the bat back to one of his men, the woman behind him smirked.

"Well...Natalia will need a hotel, while you finance the rebuild, won't she?" Martin asked Michael.

"...sure."

"Good...now I'm thinking here that the rebuild will be somewhere in the 2.5 million range?"

"Of course..."

"Great."

With it settled, Madrazo went back to the SUV. Natalia, on the other hand, stayed behind only to spit on Michael. Satisfied, she went back into the truck with Madrazo. The truck pulled off out of the driveway while Franklin and Gretchen helped Michael up off of the ground.

"Damn, you a'ight?" Franklin asked.

Michael simply shrugged as he wiped the spit from his face. "Never better."

"What are you gonna do?"

"Looks like I gotta postpone my retirement. Ah shit...look there's only one way I know how to make that kinda cash...I gotta call an old friend, Lester." Michael said. "I think he's intown somewhere."

Both Gretchen and Franklin looked at Michael with worry. "Look, I'll be fine."

**INDEPENDENCE**

[Later that night] [Vespucci Beach]

With the moon fully coming out (gay moon is canon) a lot of the beach goers were packing up their stuff and heading back home. The only people still lingering around the beach were burnouts and college kids having their little burnout get-together.

_11:44pm_. Maria. kept her eyes on her phone screen watching the time, waiting for her shift to be over. She stood in the lifeguard's station waiting for her co-worker, Phil, to arrive with their food. She looked around, her brunette hair whipping gently as she turned her head.

"Where is this knockoff?" she muttered.

The wood began to shake as Phil ascended the ramp. "Dinner for two, madam." He greeted, handing her a styrofoam tray filled with Chinese food.

"Finally, felt like my stomach was gonna cave in."

"Fear not, fair maiden for I-"

"OK, the medieval talk is getting old now."

"Would you prefer it if I talked with southern beau accent?"

"I would prefer if you talked like Phil."

"Hehe."

They both began to chow down on their food. As they ate, Phil looked on at the water. He wanted to see a peaceful view as he ate beside his girlfriend. Though, something was off.

"...the hell?" he muttered.

Maria overheard him and looked in his direction. "Something wrong?"

Phil didn't answer her, he merely grabbed his binoculars for a closer view. In the shallow part of the water, occasionally floating, was a person lying on their back.

"Phil, what's wrong?" Maria asked.

Phil groaned. "Some asshole still in the water."

"Probably another one of those potheads."

Phil went into the mini-office and grabbed the red & white bullhorn. "NO SWIMMING IN THE WATER AFTER 9! COME ON, GET OUT!"

…...

There was no answer from the person, nor any movement whatsoever.

"Fuckin' hell! I'll be right back."

"Be careful, this might be some sort of bath-salt thing."

"I don't take kick-boxing classes for nothing."

Phil casually walked over to the still person. As he got closer, he noticed that the person was a woman.

"Hey! No swi..."

"..."

Phil cautiously walked over to the person's body to try and shake them into some sort of sane state. But the closer he got, the paler both of them got. The woman's body was still. Phil reached in closer and closer to touch her.

"H-hey...come on, you gotta get up."

"..."

He then began to shake her body, still hoping that he'd get an answer from her...but to no avail.

"Shit. Shitshitshitshitshitshitshitshitshitshitshitshitshi—M-MARIA?!"

He turned and saw her distant figure stand up. "What's wrong?!"

"CALL THE COPS! CALLTHECOPSCALLTHECOPSCALLTHECOPSCALLTHECOPS!" Phil repeadtely shouted as he ran back to her.

Maria dialed _911_ as quickly as she could. Her boyfriend's actions said enough about what he found. "Hello 911, there's a body on the shore."

* * *

><p>The mysterious killer strikes again!<p>

Or maybe...it's someone completely different this time.

Who knows? Only me...MWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHHAAHAHAAHAHAHAAHAA-*coughs*...ha.


	5. Sousa

Whew! Been awhile since a posted a chapter. I looked at when I last updated the story and it said november so I was like "fix that!" and now here I am with chapter 5.

Hope you enjoy! ^_^

* * *

><p>Chapter 5: Sousa<p>

* * *

><p>"I want you to know this is the most stupidest thing you ever thought of." Gretchen heard.<p>

She was outside of Bahamas Mamas West, talking on the phone with Grayson.

"When I called you, I was hoping for words of encouragement." Gretchen said.

"You're about to have a sit down with some mafia shmuck. YOU suggested this meeting! How can I possibly be supportive?"

"It's fairly easy. Just say: _Hey Gretch, wishing you luck talking with some douchebag mafia boss_! Something like that, y'know?"

"That sounded lame."

"You sound lame!"

"You know if you know who figures out what you're doing, you're going to be so fuckin' screwed, right?" Grayson asked.

"I know, that's why...I'm gonna..._not_ tell them about this for right now."

Gretchen saw a black SUV pull up in front of the club and out came Leon and two of his men. Leon looked around before seeing Gretchen standing there, waiting for him.

"Look, he's here, I gotta go." Gretchen said quickly.

"But what about-" Grayson was quickly cut off when Gretchen hung up the phone.

"GRETCHEN!" Leon yelled with a smirk on his face.

Gretchen rolled her eyes and went over to him. "You!..."

"Ah, come on! Don't be like that."

"Don't be like what?"

"Hey!" Leon's tone was more serious. "You set up this meeting, not me. You're on MY time, tonight." He stated.

"Whatever, let's just go in."

Before she could go any further, Leon grabbed her arm to stop her. She looked up at him, glaring at him while Leon shook his head.

"Ehh, too much noise."

"So then where are going?"

Leon looked back at his car before looking back at Gretchen. "Let's go for a drive."

**INDEPENDENCE**

While the two bodyguards sat in both the driver's and passenger's seats, Gretchen and Leon sat in the backseats.

"So, you want to talk about Trina's debt, right?"

"How'd you know?"

"Well, it ain't rocket science. You didn't call me out for a date, unfortunately."

"Look, I know everyone fantasizes about being with me, but I'd appreciate it if you kept it to yourself." Gretchen said. "Look, I want you to wipe away Trina's debt."

"And just why would I do that?" Leon asked.

"Because, rather than strong-arming stalker waitresses, you can just be semi-willingly offered a decent sum from someone who can afford it."

"And I'm gonna go on the limb here and say that YOU are that semi-willing donor, right?" Gretchen nodded. "And how do I know you're not just lying through your teeth?"

"I have proof."

"Proof?"

"Yep."

"Please, enlighten me."

"Well, I come from a VERY prominent family."

"How prominent?"

"We've been making money since the late 1800s?"

"Really? Usually spoiled brats only know that they have money and not where it comes from."

"Well, my parents didn't want a spoiled brat."

"Not the vibe I'm getting from you."

"I'm not spoiled, I'm simply someone who KNOWS how they should be treated by everyone else."

"And what's this family's name?"

"Sousa."

"Sousa?"

"Yeah, Sousa."

Leon went quiet as he looked out of the window at the view of Los Santos passing by.

"You know, I think I've heard of them. Then again I might be wrong. You're not the only prominent Sousas in the world, right?"

Gretchen shrugged her shoulders. "Sousa, Brazil." She replied.

"What does your family do?"

"Do some research."

"It'd be easier if you told me."

"No, because you don't seem to believe me. It'd be easier if you saw for yourself. Drop me off back at the club, I'm ready to head home."

**INDEPENDENCE**

Gretchen hopped out of the car, dusting herself off.

Before walking back to her car, she turned to Leon. "When you're done with your research, you'll think twice about not accepting my offer."

With that, the blackette walked off to her car while Leon and his henchmen drove off.

'Hmph! And Grayson didn't want to give me any words of encouragement. I showed him.' She thought.

**INDEPENDENCE**

**DE SANTA RESIDENCE**

"Ugh, you keep moving and it's going to hurt." Gretchen warned the blonde.

"I'm sorry! After that shit my dad pulled, I'm surprised they want to hang out."

"What'd he do?"

"I was at this yacht party with my friends, and my dad shows up and completely ruins my life! He pushed one of them off of the boat."

Gretchen paused for a second, the story seemingly familiar. "What do you friends do?"

"Oh." Tracey then smirked. "They're porn stars."

"Really?"

"One of them wouldn't happen to be a skinny little redhead named Patti, would they?"

"Yeah! How'd you know?"

"I live with her, she told me about some old guy causing a scene at a yacht party she went to. Mentioned that the guy's daughter was there and what not."

"Oh my god—wait! Which one was her boyfriend?"

"She said that the old guy threw him off the boat."

"What?!" Tracey sounded slightly disappointed. "He never mentioned that Patti was his girlfriend!"

Gretchen put down the tweezers and admired her handiwork on Tracey's eyebrows. "You guys slept together or something?"

"We almost did!" The blonde then gasped. "That's why he became distant when she arrived." She then put her face in her hands."I feel like such a slut!"

Gretchen kneeled. "Oh, sweetie I know you're upset but don't smudge the make-up, it's some of my best work."

"Okay."

"And you're not the slut, he is. I mean, YOU didn't know that she was his girlfriend. No one told you did they?"

"No..."

"He shouldn't have been trying to bang anyone else that wasn't Patti or a co-actor. Now smile, smiling blesses our fans and weakens our haters."

Tracey giggled. "Y'know, for a maid you're pretty cool. You actually understand me." The blonde gasps. "You're like the sister I wish I had."

Tracey took hold of Gretchen's hands and began bouncing up and down.

"We should totally go shopping sometime."

"Maybe, but right you need to be getting ready and I need to get back to work."

Gretchen left the blonde's room and headed downstairs. Just in time too because her cellphone began to ring. She could hear the muffled ringing inside her bag. Grabbing it and looking at the caller ID, Gretchen smirked. The blackette looked around to make sure no one was around and answered.

"You finished researching?"

"I didn't but one of my men did and what he found out allowed me to know who I was dealing with, or rather...whose family I was dealing with," Leon replied.

"Aaaaaaaand? About Trina?"

"Consider her debt free. Now that I know that there are bigger fish in the sea."

Gretchen straightened her posture and smiled. "Good!"

"Now what exactly are you offering me?"

"Money duh! That's what we talked about."

"Quick question: Are you working in the Sousa family business?"

"..."

"Silence is not an answer."

"You'll get your money. All you needed was proof that I was good for it. Don't worry about what my family is doing."

"Ah, ah, ah. YOU were the one that wanted me to do research. I'm just asking a question."

"Some questions are best left in the dark. You'll get your money and that's the last me, Trina or even Patti have to see you. Got it?"

"Ooh! Are you threatening me now? I kinda like it."

"Ew!" Gretchen exclaimed. "This conversation is over."

Gretchen hung up the phone and rolled her eyes.

**BELROSE RESIDENCE**

"So?" A woman's voice asked.

Leon looked at his cellphone before tossing it onto the black leather couch in the study. "She didn't answer."

"That most likely means that she is. The princess wields claws."

"So now what?"

"That girl omitted something, I know it. That family goes dark for years and all of sudden some spoiled bitch claims she has their blood running through her veins?"

"You think she's lying?" Leon asked.

"Either she's lying and a fool, no one can throw that name around with ease and not suffer consequences. Or she's not telling the WHOLE truth."

"The whole truth being?"

The woman placed her elbows on the desk and shrugged. "That I'm not 100% sure on."

"So again, what do we do now?" Leon questioned.

"There's this...person...who can without a doubt see who she is. Get them to look into Ms. Sousa."

Leon nodded and left the office while the woman dug through the drawer before pulling out a picture. It was a photo of part of a yellow building. On the building, an "S" with a spear through it was graffitied onto the wall. The letter was green with a white outline.

"So the snakes finally come out of hiding, huh?"

* * *

><p>So yeah! Fairly short chapter. Really shorter than my others ones. But as you can see Gretchen's mouth might've just got her and family in some shit. I'm not sure how people's reaction to Gretchen is. I kinda wanted her to fit into a GTA game, so I wanted her to be kind of an asshole. Maybe I made her too much of an asshole though. Lemme know.<p> 


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